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VPAA 10-08 Service Learning (SL) Designated Courses Policy

The following is a policy for establishing Service Learning designated courses in the catalog. This policy addresses the difficulty of ensuring that courses that send students into the community for service learning activities have completed all of the required risk management processes and developed the necessary agreements with the community partner. The policy has two components:

A.Course development/approval processes; and

B.The implementation process that ensures all of the required steps are in place before the course is offered as a SL class.

1.Course Development /approval processes

a.To propose an S-designated course, the department submits a New Course Proposal and a service learning S-designation form to the ICC.

b.The ICC will evaluate the proposal through the regular curriculum review process with recommendations from the Service Learning/Community Engagement Advisory Committee.

c.ICC approved courses will be presented to the Academic Senate which will forward its recommendation to the Provost.

d.Temporary Service Learning courses using 480, or similar designation, must file the S-designation form with the SL Office for review, assistance in developing a community partner MOU and risk management. If the faculty member disagrees with the SL Office review, the issue can be appealed to the ICC for a determination in regards to offering the temporary course.

2.Implementation process

a.When a department plans to offer a SL designated course, the faculty member is responsible for notifying the SL Center as soon as possible to begin negotiating the Memorandums of Understanding with the community partners and to ensure risk management procedures are in place.[i]

b.Once the SL Center has certified that the necessary agreements are in place, the faculty member and chair are notified. As early as feasible, the Registrar will generate an attribute report for the coming semester.

c.Before the start of the semester, the Service Learning Center will review all scheduled SL courses to ensure that the required paperwork is in place for all S-designated courses.

d.If the risk management or other required materials are not completed by the time a decision regarding the course needs to be made, the Vice Provost will work with the dean to adjust the schedule by eliminating the section for that term.

PASSED – Senate – 10/19/2010

APPROVED – President Richmond –10/26/10

[i] As this can take a considerable length of time to get final approval from the community partner and complete all required University risk management processes, it is recommended that the planning for SL class sections be done at least annually.